Clashes break out as Guantánamo guards seek to break hunger strike

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Update on the hunger strike in Guantanamo.

US military spokesman says 'four less-than-lethal rounds fired' in disturbance but no injuries to guards or prisoners

Guards clashed Saturday with prisoners at the Guantánamo Bay prison, as the military sought to move hunger strikers out of a communal section of the detention center on the US base in Cuba, officials said. The confrontation occurred after the commander decided to move prisoners into single, solid-walled cells so that prison authorities could monitor them more closely during the hunger strike, the military said. When guards arrived in the communal to move the men, the prisoners fought back with makeshift weapons, prompting troops to fire four "less-than-lethal rounds" to quell the disturbance, according to a statement issued by Miami-based US Southern Command, which oversees the prison. There were no major injuries, military officials said.

"I know for sure that one detainee was hit but the injuries were minor, just some bruises," said Army colonel Greg Julian, a Southern Command spokesman. Guards used a modified shotgun shell that fires small rubber pellets as well as type of bean-bag projectile, Julian said.

The clash occurred in Camp 6, which the military converted to a mostly communal section for well-behaved prisoners, giving them access to satellite television, language and other classes and round-the-clock recreation time to make Guantánamo conform to international standards for a prisoner-of-war camp.

"This is exactly the opposite of what they should be doing," said Carlos Warner, a federal public defender in Ohio who represents several prisoners held at Guantánamo. "The military is escalating the conflict."

Tensions had been high for months in Camp 6 and the adjacent Camp 5, where all the prisoners are held in solid-walled, single cells. Lawyers for prisoners said a hunger strike broke out on 6 February, in protest over their indefinite confinement and what the men believed were tighter restrictions and intrusive searches of their Qurans for contraband.

Prisoners had offered to give up the Muslim holy book that each one is issued by the government but prison officials refused to accept them, which they considered a tacit admission of wrongdoing. The prison at the US base in Cuba holds 166 detainees. The military said that as of Friday, 43 prisoners were classified as hunger strikers, including nearly a dozen being force fed to prevent them from starving to death. Lawyers for prisoners have insisted the strike is much more widespread and that almost all of the men are refusing to eat.

For several weeks, prisoners in the communal section had been covering up security cameras and windows used by the guards to monitor them, one of the reasons the commander decided to move them into single cells. Officials were also concerned that some men were surreptitiously starving themselves to avoid being classified as a hunger striker and force fed. The military said it was conducting individual assessments of all the prisoners.

http://www.guardian.co.uk

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Seems like Mr 'Change we can believe in' is having another change of heart.


Guantánamo 'not in the best interests of the American people', says Obama

President says 'I don't want these individuals to die' as medical team arrives in Cuba to keep striking protesters alive




Barack Obama vowed to take action to close the controversial prison camp at Guantánamo Bay on Tuesday, declaring that he did not want any of its hunger-striking inmates to die of starvation.

At a press conference in Washington, Obama said it was not sustainable to keep Guantánamo open, warning its continued existence was a "recruitment tool" for extremists. The president promised to take the issue back to Congress, which blocked his earlier attempts to fulfill a 2008 campaign promise to close the camp. The US military bas has been rocked by a widening hunger strike that now officially involves at least 100 of the prisoners, 21 of whom are being force fed. In response to the crisis a 40-strong military medical team has arrived at the isolated base on the island of Cuba to administer treatment to keep the protesters alive.

The hunger strike is said to have begun over allegations that guards mistreated Qur'ans belonging to the inmates. That has been denied by US military officials but the strike has now come to symbolise more broader protests against the camp's existence – especially as most of the terror suspects still detained there without charge have been cleared for release.

Using strong language, Obama said he would seek again to close the detention camp, fulfilling a broken promise from his first run for the White House in 2008. "I am going to go back at this. I am going to get my team to review everything that is currently being done in Guantánamo … everything that we can do administratively. I am going to re-engage with Congress to try and make the case that [Guantánamo] is not in the best interests of the American people," he said.

Obama said he did not want the protest to end in deaths, something many lawyers for those detained have warned is an increasing likelihood. "I don't want these individuals to die," Obama said.

The strike is believed to have begun on 6 February and initially involved a minority of detainees. But the number taking part has steadily increased and the situation has rapidly worsened in recent weeks, creating headlines around the world.

Two weeks ago, guards attempted to break the resolve of those refusing food by moving detainees from communal areas and placing them in single cells, where they could be monitored more closely. That action led to violent clashes in which US troops fired four "less-than-lethal" rounds on inmates.

There are about 166 inmates at Guantánamo, of whom about half have been cleared for transfer or release. Nearly all inmates have been held without charge – some for as long as 11 years – and earlier this year the State Department office meant to deal with resettling Guantánamo prisoners was closed down. Lawyers and human rights advocates say that despair at their prospects meant that some form of protest was inevitable.

Obama said that he understood why the base had been created in the emotional reaction to 9/11 but insisted it was time to close it. "It is not sustainable," he said. "I understand that reaction. But we are now over a decade out. We should be wiser. We should have more experience in how we prosecute terrorists. This is a lingering problem that is not going to get better. It is going to get worse. It is going to fester," he said, acknowledging it was a "no-man's land" for inmates.

The only major trial to emerge from Guantánamo Bay has been a military tribunal held for alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others, which began last year. By contrast, Osama bin Laden's son-in-law Suleiman Abu Ghaith, who was captured earlier this year, will be prosecuted in a criminal court in New York.. That follows a more recent pattern of conducting all major terrorist trials in the civilian US judicial system. "We can handle this," Obama said on Tuesday. It is not likely to be an easy task to shut the base's prison camp. Opposition to closing Guantánamo remains strong in many quarters, especially among hawkish Republicans. The issue is an emotional one for many Americans and also comes at a time when the country is still reeling from a recent terror attack on the Boston marathon.

In order to close the base and either release or relocate the camp's inmates, Obama is likely to need the support of Republicans who control the House of Representatives and are known for their hardline approach to national security issues. But Obama said he was ready to make the argument that the camp's closure would make America safer in the long-run, ending what has become a catastrophic blight on America's international reputation for human rights policy.

"The idea that we would still maintain forever a group of individuals who have not been tried, that is contrary to who we are. It is contrary to our interests and needs to stop," he said.

"Now that is a hard case to make because I think for a lot of Americans the notion is: out of sight, out of mind. And it is easy to demagogue the issue. That's what happened the first time it came up. I am going back it because I think it is important."

The promise of action was welcomed by campaign groups, who urged Obama to appoint someone to his administration to act immediately. But they also claimed that there was no need for the president to go to Congress to get political support.

"The president can order the secretary of defense to start certifying for transfer detainees who have been cleared, which is more than half the Guantánamo population," said Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union.

www.guardian.co.uk

[جوري]

:ia: we will live to see the day when these jailers are behind bars, tortured without trial and licking boots for meals.

Allhoumma ameen!

[Jedi_Mindset]

looks like Cuba give their peace of mind to, a country which has been under US sanctions for decades.

Cuban foreign minister calls on US to close Guantanamo prison

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/05...o-close-gitmo/

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[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update




Letters detail punitive tactics used on Guantánamo hunger strikers

Newly declassified papers say hunger strike at Guantánamo Bay was 'broken' by a deliberate campaign to crush detainees' spirits


The US military secretly used a variety of tactics to break the resolve of the Guantánamo Bay hunger strikers, including placing them in solitary confinement if they continued to refuse food, newly declassified interviews with detainees reveal.

One prisoner also said that the last British resident held inside the camp, Shaker Aamer, had been targeted and humiliated by the authorities to the point where it became impossible for the 44-year-old to continue his protest.

The US military recently announced the end of the six-month mass hunger strike among detainees at Guantánamo Bay. But human rights groups argue that such proclamations are disingenuous as at least 16 inmates are still force-fed daily, and two are in hospital.

One detainee, 42-year-old Syrian national Abu Wa'el Dhiab, reported that the Extreme Reaction Force team, the camp's military riot squad, would "storm" Aamer's cell five times a day in an attempt to crush his resolve during the strike.

In letters recounting Aamer's treatment, which have only just been declassified, Wa'el said: "They have deprived him of food, water and medicine. Then the riot squad uses the excuse of giving him water and food and medicine to storm his cell again."

Wa'el, who like Aamer has spent 11 years inside the camp, added: "They took him to the clinic, tore his clothes off and left him with only his underwear for long hours, taunting him."

Another inmate, Samir Mukbel, from Yemen, who has also been cleared for release, alleged that throwing the prisoners into isolation helped break the protest, which lasted more than 200 days and drew such international attention that President Barack Obama reiterated his intention to close the camp.

Ahmed Belbacha, an Algerian detainee who has been cleared for release, corroborated the claim that solitary confinement was used as a punishment for prisoners making political statements. Belbacha, 43, described how the authorities were punishing hunger strikers by confiscating their belongings. "My glasses, legal papers, toothbrush, toothpaste and all my other necessities have been taken."

Testimonies of Belbacha, Mukbel and Aamer are among those featured in an animation narrated by actors David Morrissey and Peter Capaldi depicting life inside Guantánamo Bay. The film also uses testimony from the recently released Nabil Hadjarab, provided by their lawyers at legal charity Reprieve.

Mukbel, 35, added that other tactics were utilised to whittle down the size of the hunger strike. He said the temperature was deliberately manipulated to make conditions inside the camp even more uncomfortable and that during the hunger strike searches of cells were timed to disrupt detainees' sleep.

Cori Crider, a lawyer at Reprieve, said: "The US authorities have, with some glee, announced the hunger strike to be over. What they fail to tell you is the horrific things they did to crush the hunger strikers' spirits, as my clients have described. And yet still there are at least 16 men striking and being brutally force-fed twice a day."

Aamer's lawyers, meanwhile, are concerned over his health. Aamer has refused one visit and three phone calls since August, with his south-London-based family fearful that his treatment has dangerously weakened his health. Meanwhile, it has emerged that prime minister David Cameron has recently written to President Barack Obama in another direct attempt aimed at "securing Aamer's release and return to the UK."

Elsewhere, momentum to secure the release of the 164 detainees appears to be growing with news last week that the Pentagon has appointed a new envoy for the controversial task of finally closing Guantánamo Bay. Officials from several government agencies are expected to re-evaluate previous determinations that some of the men held on the US base in Cuba are too dangerous to release.

The US has not yet said how many of the 164 prisoners now at Guantánamo will be reviewed. More than 80 have already been cleared for release or transfer but are still held either because of restrictions on releases imposed by Congress or because they are from Yemen, which is considered too unstable to take former prisoners.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/12/us-military-stormed-hunger-striker-cell